Technology is proving to be a game-changer in every sector today. The success of the sector or business is determined by how well-versed it is with product upgradation that caters to the needs of its consumers. While the textile industry continues to evolve, it is witnessing a new wave of technological advancement through the introduction of technical textiles. The products manufactured as technical textiles are for automobiles, construction, civil engineering, and the list goes on.
There is a whole range of functional and innovative products manufactured with technical textiles within diverse sectors of automobiles, construction, civil engineering and so on. The role of the technical textiles segment, however, has been relatively undefined and is slowly gaining momentum while being accepted by the countries towards which Messe Frankfurt is relentlessly working on.
Messe Frankfurt is the world’s biggest trade fair organiser with textiles as one of its core areas of expertise and is behind some of the world’s most important textile trade fairs. With over 50 events in its textile and textile technologies portfolio, Messe Frankfurt’s texpertise network links leading international textile fairs. It aims to provide an international networking platform to answer the questions posed to businesses.
Mr. Winston Pereira, General Manager, Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India Pvt. Ltd., gives us a glimpse of its fairs and objectives while also highlighting the areas where the technical textile needs to improve, particularly in India.
Talking about India’s participation, he says: “India´s participation in the event clearly reflected the dynamics within the Indian technical textiles sector. A total of 38 exhibitors from India showcased their textile innovations at Techtextil and Texprocess, consistent to last year. What is driving this participation at the moment are individual enterprises and we believe there is great scope to enhance sector participation with government and association support. Countries, such as Britain, Germany and Italy that are reliant on associations represent higher contingents, and we truly believe associations can have multiplier effect and help accelerate participation by various sectors.”
Mr. Winston also highlighted how the associations in India have reach within multiple sectors of technical textiles and therefore can add a lot more value and participation with their support. He pointed out that the non-alignment is due to the fact that technical textiles are different from the traditional ones. The main reason, as pointed out by him is that “members of the biggest association in the country are operating in different industries which can get challenging to understand the relevance of each other’s application areas. Moreover, within the sector knowledge-exchange is key and sharing information about the trading companies with others is the most important aspect of flourishing in the business since it creates full-fledged goodwill among the people.”
Techtextile India is one of the five fairs in the Texpertise network where Indian players can exhibit their products to the world. India offers technical textile players access to the largest consumer market in the world. What is happening in the various sectors in India such as geotextiles, medtextiles, sporttextiles, etc., is unprecedented and is spearheading the cause of technical textiles. Government mandates are also enforcing the use of technical textiles. This can singularly change the face of the technical textile industry and offer a great future for the sector players.
He further highlighted the expansion in international participation in the Techtextile India event where in 2018, 175 exhibitors from 11 countries, including national pavilions from Germany and the People Republic of China, showcased a gamut of technical textile solutions. Many of these countries participated through association and government backing which makes it easy to enter the Indian market since their focus becomes market-centric.
On a different note, one of the interesting policies that Messe Frankfurt is looking at is about their student or faulty in-charge exchange programs from different universities. Previously when Mr. Winston was with the Italian Chamber of Commerce for 12 years, he organised internal universities exchange of students. This proved to be a great head-start and eye-opener since this ensures the exchange of good ideas and technological know-how among universities that gives birth to innovative business models.
In order to get a platform where they can invest in improving and creating knowledge exchange for everyone, a very strong decision was taken in 2011. The management at Messe Frankfurt India decided that in an year they do not have any trade fair they will host the Techtextile Symposium where textile and technology experts can converge and share experiences on their subjects of expertise.
More than just presenting data and statistics, conferences and symposiums also offer attendees an opportunity to network and learn from their peers, as well as from those who may have more experience or different viewpoints in the same area of business. Also, by working closely with associations and government bodies, we can bring the right stakeholders together to address issues and important issues concerning the industry.
What distinguishes Messe Frankfurt is that they are pro-industry-development and, instead of just building platforms for business they aim at working in collaboration with other organisers towards the development of the sector. Their recent alliance with Mex Exhibitions for Gartex Texprocess India is one such example.
Mr. Winston says: “Together, we are positioned to grow and more importantly provide industry stakeholders with a strong brand of enhanced offerings through a single-source business platform – ‘Gartex Texprocess India’.
In terms of the company’s continued growth strategy, he observed: “From one show and 15 employees in 1998, Messe Frankfurt India today has a portfolio of 20 exhibitions and over 30 conferences spanning across diverse sectors like railways, oil and gas, Indian steel and more. In tandem with the growth of the company, the employee strength in India stands at 140.”
The unique selling point of Messe Frankfurt exhibitions is that their fairs are not only on traditional topics. The focus is on creating innovation-driven and business-oriented platforms for sectors that are both high-potential or niche. Alongside the group’s flagship fairs such as ACMA Automechanika New Delhi, Techtextil India and Light India, among others, Messe Frankfurt India continues its focus on building its portfolio through local acquisitions and mergers with fairs such as LED Expo, Media Expo, International Elevators and Escalators Expo, and Screen Print India which target niche sectors.
This year again the company confirmed that there are some important announcements in the pipeline and hope to acquire a couple of more shows within the next 6 months.
Mr. Winston also said that he strongly believes that India is a remarkably high-potential market which businesses cannot ignore, and its trade fair platforms are a catalyst in enabling businesses in reaching their goals, steadily but surely.